Saudi Arabia is apparently banning 47 games in response to a pair of children committing suicide after allegedly being encouraged to do so while playing an online game.
Per the Associated Press, the Saudi General Commission for Audio-Visual Media said yesterday that a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy have taken their own lives after playing a social media game known as Blue Whale. Also called the Blue Whale Challenge, the disturbing social media phenomenon is a form of extreme cyberbullying.
It’s not clear how the Saudi government believes this connects to more mainstream video games, but it nonetheless appears to have banned 47 popular indie and AAA games in response.The Saudi General Commission for Audio-Visual Media’s website actually says the list of banned games (below) was last updated on July 2, but the Associated Press’ report claims the bans were just announced Monday.
Here’s a full list of games:
- Agents of Mayhem
- Assassins Creed 2
- Attack on Titan 2
- Bayonetta 2
- Clash of the Titans
- Dante’s Inferno
- Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition
- Deadpool
- Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess
- Deus Ex Mankind Divided
- Devil’s Third
- DmC: Definitive Edition
- Dragon Age: Inquisition
- Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
- Draw to Death
- Final Fantasy Dissidia
- Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2
- God of War 1
- God of War 2
- God of War 3
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Heavy Rain
- Hitman: Absolution (2012)
- Life is Strange
- Mafia 2
- Mafia 3
- Metro Redux
- Okami
- One Piece Burning Blood
- Past Cure
- Prison Architect
- Resident Evil 5
- Resident Evil 6
- Saints Row IV
- SplatterHouse
- Street Fighter V
- Street Fighter 30th Anniversary
- The Order 1886
- The Saboteur
- The Witcher 3
- The Nonary Game
- Thief
- Vampyr
- Watch Dogs
- Wolfenstein 2
- Wolfenstein: The New Order
- YO-KAI WATCH
Although multiple games and mainstream media publications are claiming these games were banned in response to the two Blue Whale deaths, all of those reports seem to stem from the Associated Press. As a result, it’s unclear at this time if some or all of these games were banned prior to Monday.
As for Blue Whale, it seems to have existed as much as an urban legend as an actual game since 2013. In 2016, a Russian journalist claimed 130 teenagers had committed suicide after playing Blue Whale, but this report was heavily criticized for lacking credibility. However, multiple allegations of Blue Whale-related incidents or warnings have occurred in countries as diverse as Brazil, Iran, China, the United States, and more.
It’s difficult to actually track down Blue Whale, but numerous reports claim users invited to play it are given a series of tasks to complete by the game’s administrator(s). At first, the tasks are innocuous enough–such as watching a horror movie–but are said to escalate quickly to carving a blue whale into your arm and, ultimately, killing yourself under threat of being doxxed.
The BBC reported in May 2017 that one of Blue Whale’s supposed creators was apprehended and pleaded guilty to inciting 15 teenage deaths, saying he was “cleansing society” of “biological waste.” The man was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after being found guilty of inciting the suicides of a 16-year-old and 17-year-old girl.
Blue Whale’s threat has been taken seriously enough by U.S. officials that the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is often the first Google result for searches on the keyword “Blue Whale Challenge.”